Amber Eyes
by FreakOTU
Summary: A member of the original team disappears. What has happened to her? (Xenogears)
1. Ruins of Zeobim

The continent of Ignas, five years after the destruction of Deus. The scars of the world had just  
  
begun to heal, though many parts of the world were still uninhabitable. Some things, however, had not  
  
changed for the worse. The village of Lahan had been rebuilt, and Fei, Citan and Elly all lived there.  
  
Fei and Elly had also been happily married for the last four years, and were expecting their first child.  
  
The capital of the desert nation of Aveh, Bledavik, had been almost completely emptied during  
  
the events leading up to what was commonly called the Exodus, but many people who had stood up to  
  
the ravages of the reaper swarms had re-colonized the old city. Popular acclaim had elected Bart Fatima  
  
to the position of Prime Minister of the new republic, though he had reportedly turned down the post,  
  
instead bestowing it on his family's long-time steward, Old Maison. Bart and his cousin Margie had  
  
taken the Sky Cruiser Yggdrasil III as the only payment for his actions, and had disappeared, both  
  
claiming to want to explore the world completely.  
  
To the north, the republic of Kislev appointed the title of Kaiser to the nation's battling  
  
champion. Ricardo Banderas, having used his strength as a source of income for most of his life, soon  
  
found himself using the same strength to cut through the arguments of the entrenched bureaucrats that  
  
opposed his plans for the battered nation. Rumour had it that on more than one occasion the members  
  
of the entrenched council feared for their lives when speaking to the hot-tempered Rico, especially on  
  
the topic of racial integration between Humans and Demi-Humans.  
  
In the Aquavy Island Chain, Billy Lee Black, his sister Primera, and his father Jesiah returned  
  
to the Aquavy orphanage, living mostly in peace as they took care of the children who had lost their  
  
parents. On the open seas near the islands, the floating hulk of the city-sized salvage vessel 'Thames'  
  
was found, and slowly rebuilt by the captain of the once-mighty vessel. Much of the old crew also found  
  
themselves returning to the massive vessel, and within a few years they had once again begun digging  
  
up relics from ages long past.  
  
The floating city of Shevat never took to the skies again. The damage caused by its catastrophic  
  
landing into the sub-arctic snowfields made sure that the ancient city would never sustain an anti-gravity  
  
field strong enough to lift it from the ground. Subjected to weather that would have killed the best-  
  
insulated beings in only a few days, the city's surviving inhabitants died off, several actually trying to  
  
make a trek to the oceans to try and gather assistance.  
  
The only survivors of Shevat's culture were Maria Balthazar, who went to live with her  
  
grandfather in Bledavik, Chu-Chu, the only survivor of its race, which decided to live with Maria, and  
  
Yui, wife of Citan, and permanent resident of Lahan.  
  
Only one member of the group truly disappeared, as there have been reports of Bart and Margie  
  
exploring the eastern peninsula near where Solaris fell. The quietest member of the original party, the  
  
mysterious being known only as 'Emeralda' had disappeared as suddenly as she had first entered the  
  
world, raising some concern, as she was the only survivor of a civilization that had been dead for the  
  
last four thousand years. However, not everything stays the same, and not everyone or everything wants  
  
to be found.  
  
Zeobim Ruins, Summer   
  
Silence had encompassed the ruins for many long years, the only disturbance being from the  
  
natural causes of erosion wearing away at the ruined buildings. However, during the interminable  
  
stretch between the formation of frost on the edges of the buildings and the annual melt, something  
  
disturbed the silence. A faint hum, barely audible at first, but slowly increasing, began to echo through  
  
the immense cavern. After almost four hours, the source of the ever-increasing hum finally revealed  
  
itself as a section of cavern wall sloughed away from the slowly revolving cutters of a mining drill.  
  
Reaching open air, the cutters slowly spun to a stop, then pulled back into the tunnel they had  
  
been creating for the last few weeks. Close behind the cutter's retreat, human voices were heard in the  
  
dead city, the first voices in a long time. "Hey! Look at this! We just struck the motherlode! We're  
  
rich!"  
  
"Ha! Wouldja lookit that? I think there's an old gear over between those two buildings!"  
  
The first speaker laughed, then looked out to where the second speaker gestured. Surely enough,  
  
there was one of the humanoid combat machines, but it was most definitely not in any condition to be  
  
used for combat. The machine, which looked like one of the old Musha Mk. 100s that had been used  
  
so commonly during the Aveh-Kislev war, had literally been blown apart.  
  
One arm, still holding the heavy machine gun that was the gear's primary weapon, had been  
  
stripped down to the skeleton, all the armour plating having been torn off like a set of teeth had grabbed  
  
the arm and pulled. The other arm was missing completely, though there were three fingers scattered  
  
down the street in various stages of destruction. The main torso, legs and head were even worse off.  
  
They had been systematically smashed inwards, turning the broad machine into a broad and mostly flat  
  
machine, with a dull stain right in the centre of the gear's torso, right where the cockpit was situated.  
  
The two men looked at each other, grinned, and yelled up the tunnel, gathering a fairly large  
  
crowd of 'salvagers'. The crew of about thirty men and women looked at the ruined city, and shouting  
  
gleefully at the prospect of untold treasures, they scattered into the ruins and started examining objects  
  
for their own gain.  
  
One man, having wandered into the ruin's subway system through a manhole, found nothing  
  
of interest until he climbed a set of stairs and found a form, huddled upon the bare stone ground. Moving  
  
quickly, the man ran over to the still form, gently touching the body with his bare hand for a few seconds  
  
before turning the person onto her back. Looking down at the young woman lying unconscious or dead  
  
on the ground before him, the young man slowly examined her body, noting that her clothes seemed to  
  
have been designed for a child of ten to twelve years of age instead of the obviously older vision he was  
  
staring at.  
  
However, before he could do anything, the young woman's eyes snapped open, and seeing the  
  
young man, she instantly thrust her right hand forwards. Almost before the man could squeak, he found  
  
himself looking down at the metallic spine sticking through his chest. Following the source of the spine,  
  
the man's eyes widened as he realized that the spine was the woman's three middle fingers on her right  
  
hand, only merged together, edged to a razor-sharp point, and elongated to a length of three feet.  
  
The woman stood up, shifting the spike around in her victim as she looked at the trickle of blood  
  
that began to run down her arm. She then pulled her hand back, pulling the spike free, and also releasing  
  
the pressure that was keeping the severed ventricle from spilling blood everywhere. The young man  
  
didn't have time to even speak as his heart failed him, making him collapse, face-down onto the ground,  
  
and quite dead.  
  
The woman calmly reformed her hand into its normal form, and then walked into the subway  
  
tunnels. Behind her, on the belt of the young man, a small radio squawked to life, static-filled and  
  
broken up. Ten minutes later, another member of the group heard a faint noise from an abandoned store.  
  
Deciding to investigate, he walked into the store, and met a tiny form huddled in the corner. Closer  
  
examination revealed that it was a young girl, maybe seventeen years old, and apparently quite scared.  
  
The man, an older person, reached out and gently touched the girl's long hair, marvelling at its  
  
deep green shade. "Hello? Can I help you?"  
  
The girl looked up at the man, an expectant smile flashing over her face. Just as quickly, the  
  
smile disappeared and she turned away. "Leave."  
  
The man shook his head, gently reaching out and grabbing the girl by the arm. "I'm sorry, but  
  
I don't think you should be down here. These ruins are dangerous."  
  
The girl stood up, looking at the man's hand, and frowned. Nobody had touched her in five  
  
years, and she wasn't used to the contact. Her response was instant, swift, and painful. Her arm suddenly  
  
sprouted a dozen razor-edged spikes, which perforated the man's hand like he had just fallen onto a bed  
  
of nails. Right before he could scream, the girl's hair wrapped around his mouth, silencing him. "Leave.  
  
Get out. Never come back."  
  
The spikes disappeared, and the girl let the man go, looking at him cooly as she reached across  
  
the twenty-foot distance of the room and opened the door, her arm having stretched like taffy. "Go.  
  
Now. Or I kill you."  
  
The man, scared for his life, took off running, screaming loudly through his radio that he had  
  
just been attacked. Ten minutes later, the group of salvagers had gathered together in the flat expanse  
  
of an ancient parking lot, and most of them were examining the poor man's ruined hand, until he spoke  
  
up. "Look, I don't think that this is a good place to take a look through. From what we've seen, the  
  
place's already been picked over, and there's something very dangerous living down here. Just look at  
  
my hand! That's what happened because I tried to touch it."  
  
The official leader of the group examined the many wounds covering his friend's hand, then  
  
frowned. "Hey, you remember that story a few years ago about the eight that fought god? Rumour held  
  
that one of them could change her body's shape at will, and from what you said, I'm betting that we just  
  
stumbled into the city that she lives in. I think we should get the hell out of here."  
  
Before anyone could agree or disagree, something big moved. In a blast of debris, a gear roared  
  
by, moving at a speed that was almost incomprehensible. "What the hell? I thought almost all the gears  
  
had shut down a long time ago!"  
  
The response was drowned out by the gear's jets screaming their defiance as the gear, now  
  
visible as an elegant, armless design, with a pair of wings, swooped down and thoroughly squashed three  
  
members of the salvage team. The salvage team's response was to tear out of the ruined city as fast as  
  
they could run, though another seven people died under the massive feet of the gear, which had neatly  
  
stomped on everyone who couldn't outrun it.  
  
Finally, after all signs of life had been eradicated, the gear shut down, and the young woman  
  
climbed out of the machine's cockpit. Standing silently for a few moments, she seemed to come to a  
  
conclusion and followed the salvage team. However, she paused for a few moments, seemingly  
  
concentrating. After a few moments, she was clad in the ragged pieces of a dark red and black Solarian  
  
combat uniform, and had a long scarf triple-wrapped around her neck and lower jaw.  
  
She then walked into the open shaft that had been created by the salvagers, walking towards the  
  
surface world, which she hadn't seen in five years. Times may change, and she was curious about what  
  
had happened during her rest. 


	2. Exploration

Aquavy Island Chain, Three Months Later   
  
The lighthouse was gigantic. Nearly seven hundred metres in height, and almost four hundred  
  
metres in diameter, it was a monolithic testament to the engineering skills of a civilization dead four  
  
thousand years. Still working, at night the beam of light from the gigantic lenses played over the surface  
  
of the ocean for nearly a hundred kloms. Many vessels still sailed to avoid the immense reefs that were  
  
lit by the ancient lighthouse,  
  
However, at the base of the lighthouse, a smaller, less-documented feature existed. Hidden in  
  
the mesh of massive gears and energy storage cells, an elevator lay dormant, having been used once in  
  
five years. Slowly, that changed. A faint rumble, followed by a dull grinding noise echoed up through  
  
the shaft, though it was almost an hour before the large elevator platform arrived at the surface. There,  
  
in the centre of the hundred metre-square platform, a lone figure stood, clad in the heavy clothing of a  
  
Bledavik dustman.  
  
Sighing, the figure pulled off the hood of the protective uniform, walking towards the exit from  
  
the lighthouse. "Damn. Where could she be? Crescens is down there, but even the emergency power  
  
cells were drained. Still, where could she be?"  
  
The white eyepatch, currently a dusty grey, and long blonde hair gathered into a ponytail  
  
instantly pegged the speaker as Bartholomew Fatima. A few wrinkles had made their home in his face,  
  
though his infectious humour still sparkled gleefully in his working eye. Currently, instead of the  
  
habitual grin on his face, there was only a pensive frown that added the appearance of another dozen  
  
wrinkles, but said frown was quickly erased when he looked out at the hulking Sky Cruiser that was  
  
resting calmly less than a klom away from the base of the lighthouse.  
  
The rebuilt and reconditioned Yggdrasil-Class battlecruiser was the last of its kind, and as a  
  
result, it was recognised everywhere it went., notwithstanding the fact that it could easily hold a  
  
gathering of about two thousand people on the gear deck when it was open. Looking up at the bridge  
  
of the ship, Bart noticed a quick flash of red, telling him that Margie was waiting for him.  
  
Pulling a two-way radio from his belt, Bart flipped a toggle and started speaking. "Hey Marg.  
  
Just got off the lift, and am headin' in your direction. Got some tea ready for me?"  
  
Margie's soft voice, underscored with a faint hiss of static from the radio, responded quickly.  
  
"Depends on how quickly you get back to the ship. If you run, you'll get here by the time we're ready  
  
to take off."  
  
Bart grinned as he broke into an easy jog towards his ship. "Yeah, and who'll take care of you   
  
then? Don't worry. I'll be there in five, though you might want to heat up the long-range transmitter.  
  
Citan's not going to like this."  
  
Margie sounded worried through the scratchiness of the radio, though only Bart would have  
  
been able to pick out the fact that she was concerned. She had changed so much in five years. "Why's  
  
that?"  
  
"People have been trying to raid the ruins. I saw a few mining tunnels in the walls of the cavern,  
  
and most of the critters are gone now. Also, Em's not there."  
  
"Bart, we haven't seen her in five years. Nobody in the group has, and you could bet that she'd  
  
have stayed with Fei as a first, second and third choice."  
  
Bart frowned again, mentally wondering why they seemed to be getting easier and easier to  
  
summon onto his face. Slowing in his jog, he noticed the massive propulsion vanes on the underside of  
  
the Yggdrasil III begin to revolve, telling him that if he didn't hustle, he'd be left to his own devices for  
  
an hour or so. "We'll talk on the ship Marg. Right now, I have a ladder to catch."  
  
With that, he turned off the radio, stashed it in his belt, and pelted full out for the rope ladder  
  
that was just beginning to move upwards, though he was a good two hundred yards away. Bart caught  
  
the last three rungs with seconds to spare, and quickly scrambled onto the Ygg's heavily armoured hull  
  
with a little effort. With a little more, he managed to climb up to the conning tower of the heavily armed  
  
and streamlined cruiser, and, after planting his feet on the solid deck plating, he turned to Margie,  
  
grinned, and waved a thumbs-up at her.  
  
Margie smiled shyly and undogged the heavy hatch that was normally closed during flight  
  
operations. She had filled out appreciably in five years of travel, having toned her natural physique  
  
while retaining all her more feminine qualities, including hair that currently travelled down to the small  
  
of her back in a cascade of ringlets and curls. The only thing that hadn't changed in five years was the  
  
almost-permanent smile on Margie's face, which only tripled in size whenever Bart was within fifty feet  
  
of her.  
  
"In. We're heading to the Aquavy Orphanage next. Maybe Billy and Jesiah know something."  
  
Bart shrugged as he helped Margie open the hatch, struggling against the slowly increasing wind shear  
  
that plucked at their clothes. in whistling gusts. Margie dropped into the cruiser first, followed by Bart,  
  
who literally grabbed onto the inner wheel of the hatch and used his body weight to pull the hatch  
  
closed. After dogging the hatch shut, Bart scrambled down the ladder, listening to the unnerving thrum  
  
of the powerful engines that laboured to keep the Sky Cruiser from yawing too far in the infamous  
  
crosswinds near the lighthouse.  
  
A few seconds later, Bart was at his usual place on the bridge, the old-fashioned wheel gripped  
  
firmly as she brought the immense ship around to its new destination. Then, with a slow hum, the  
  
manoeuvring vanes angled themselves, and the ship began to move towards the Orphanage. 


	3. Travel

Unknown Location   
  
The ocean was unforgiving at the best of times, smashing against the rock face repeatedly with  
  
waves that were easily over twenty feet high. Silently, a single form clung to the craggy rock, climbing  
  
up the sheer cliff without any visible effort, though the climb was often interrupted by the need to  
  
resecure the grip as the occasional wave reached high enough to soak the form in sheets of foaming  
  
spray.  
  
The form continued to move at a relatively constant speed, pausing only once during its climb  
  
for a few moments. Finally, once it crested the hundred-metre cliff, it paused for a few seconds,  
  
surveying the barren wastes of the Duneman's Island. Briefly, green hair flashed in the sunlight, then  
  
a cloak covered the being as it walked into the desert, heading northeast.  
  
Twenty minutes later, four dunemen accosted the form. The first of the raiders, a shroud-  
  
wrapped man twice as large as the traveller, pulled out a crude handgun and aimed at his target, who,  
  
obligingly, stopped just within shouting distance. "You! Give us all your treasures, or we will kill you  
  
and stake your body out for the worms!"  
  
The traveller didn't even react to the threat, pausing only for a second before continuing towards  
  
the northeast, which would take it right through the group of men. The leader, unnerved by the silence  
  
of the traveller, raised the pistol in his right hand, pulling the trigger as soon as he was lined up on the  
  
traveller's chest. The bullet didn't even slow the traveller down. The crude lead slug hit the traveller just  
  
above the breastbone, but simply bounced off.  
  
The next thing the duneman knew, a pair of limbs shot out from under the cloak, stretching  
  
impossibly long. The arms wrapped around him, then he felt something strange. Looking down, he saw  
  
the arms begin to dissolve, and felt a strange numbness creeping through his chest and arms. The arms  
  
dissolved completely, seeming to shimmer as they looked like they were moving, then reformed on  
  
opposite sides of the duneman's body.  
  
The only thing the big man did was to cough up a massive gout of blood, staining his robes as  
  
he collapsed to his knees, his arms wrapping around his blood-covered midsection. The traveller walked  
  
by him, pausing only long enough to whisper a word to the man. "Divider."  
  
The traveller then shoved the man, hard. He didn't even scream, as his heart and lungs had been  
  
shredded by the almost invisible attack. Collapsing to the ground completely, the dying body convulsed  
  
for a few seconds, then stopped moving with a shuddering gasp. The other three dunemen glanced at  
  
each other, then tried to run. The second one to die had about two seconds to turn, then had his head  
  
crushed by a sudden movement that looked like a fist that whipped outwards in a blur, slammed into  
  
the man's head like a hammer hitting a melon, and returned back to the traveller.  
  
The second duneman, by the time his corpse settled to the ground, no longer had a face, much  
  
less a head. The last two, having managed to take only a few steps, were extremely surprised when they  
  
found themselves stepping into a bright green field of moving spikes. Both men accidentally stomped  
  
some of the spikes, much to their detriment. The spikes, once stepped on, shot through the men's feet  
  
in a series of bloody gouts, then flattened out into spined plates that prevented the men from moving  
  
anywhere.  
  
The traveller did not waste time, or words on the two would-be assailants. Two short, sharp  
  
screams were the only sounds of the men's passing out of the mortal coil, though they had died in the  
  
worst way possible. Once thought a legend, the extra-dimensional Dark Beast had appeared for only a  
  
second, engulfed both men, and proceeded to literally chew up both men until they were completely  
  
unrecognisable as human, much less humanoid. Spitting the corpses out, the multiple mouths of the  
  
amorphous being shimmered out of existence, leaving only the spittle-covered corpses, which slowly  
  
sizzled into a puddle of bloody goo from the acidic spit.  
  
The traveller, seemingly satisfied with the bloody mess that was quickly being absorbed into the  
  
sand, nodded once and walked away, still heading towards the northeast. 


	4. Auqavy Orphanage

Aquavy Orphanage   
  
"Billy! You expectin' guests?"  
  
Billy looked up from the child he was helping fix a toy wagon with, and glanced over at his  
  
father. Jesiah, looking older than his fifty-five years, simply pointed north. Shading his eyes, Billy  
  
looked out at the ocean, expecting to see a boat coming in, but then he heard the still-familiar thrum  
  
of pressure engines moving something very large. Looking up, he saw the unmistakable form of the  
  
Yggdrasil III loop around in a tight curve that would settle the immense ship less than half a klom  
  
away from the orphanage itself.  
  
Billy grinned and looked over at his father. "No, but it sure feels good to see that old hulk  
  
still in the air. Looks a bit beat up too. Maybe Bart tried to find out why there was a mountain goat  
  
in the middle of a cloud."  
  
Jesiah only laughed at the mental image. "Jeez kid. You got your humour back, but it's still  
  
dry. I think I'll sneak a drink out of the fridge and check on Prim. You gonna wait out here?"  
  
"I think so. By the way, bring out a second glassful. If I'm right, that's Bart's piloting, and  
  
I'd guess that you'll be wanting to put Sig in his cups as soon as possible."  
  
Jesiah grinned, chuckling dryly. "I'd like to, but Sig's still in Bledavik. I'll be back out in  
  
five." With that comment, Jesiah disappeared into the orphanage, muttering under his breath for  
  
some reason. Billy only smiled, wiping some sweat away from his eyes. Clad in casual slacks and a  
  
t-shirt, Billy looked much different from his Etone days, as he had bulked up appreciably by  
  
working to repair and expand the orphanage with the help of his father and sister.  
  
"Billy?" The quiet voice allowed Billy to turn away from the sight of the big Sky Cruiser's  
  
landing, and he smiled at Primera, who had, once again, managed to sneak up on him.  
  
"Hey sis. Looks like Bart and Margie are here for a visit. Do you want to greet them, or  
  
should I?"  
  
Primera smiled and looked up at her tall brother. "We both should."  
  
Billy could only smile as he noticed the Yggdrasil settle to the ground in a cloud of dust.  
  
"Well, they're going to be here in a few minutes, so don't take too much time in cleaning that blotch  
  
of muck off of your face."  
  
Primera frowned, but shrugged. In the last few years, she had revealed a knowledge and skill  
  
with machines that rivalled Maria Balthasar's, and the two young women, when they saw each other  
  
once or twice each year, instantly started up on the one-upmanship games by bragging about their  
  
respective creations. It was very hard to believe that Primera could be so talkative as well,  
  
considering that she had remained silent for four years after her mother had been killed by reapers.  
  
Billy smiled as he ruffled his sister's hair, and got a return tug on his ponytail as a response.  
  
"Scoot sis. I'll just finish fixing the wagon, then I'll be cleaning up a bit."  
  
Primera nodded, smiling. "It will be nice to see everyone again."  
  
Billy chuckled, nodding. "So long as dad doesn't get Bart sloshed in the first ten minutes.  
  
It'd be nice to talk to Bart without having to punch through either a drunken haze or a hangover."  
  
Primera simply giggled, then disappeared as quietly as she appeared. Billy smiled, and  
  
continued to hammer away at the damaged wagon wheel, slowly straightening out the metal rim so  
  
he could finish his repair job. Soon, a shadow fell over him, and Billy nodded an acknowledgement  
  
as he finished hammering out the dent that had almost ruined the wagon.  
  
"Hey Billy. How's life treating you?"  
  
Billy looked over at Bart and smiled slightly. "Pretty good. Dad's mellowed out, Prim's  
  
speaking more and more, and the kids are happy. So, what's up with you? Still flying around and  
  
exploring?"  
  
Bart shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "A bit. Margie and I are spending more time at Fort  
  
Jasper though. Citan actually asked us to head out to the Zeobim Ruins to check out some strange  
  
readings from a scanner that he had left in there."  
  
Billy raised an eyebrow as he quickly placed the wheel on the wagon's axle, hammering it in  
  
tightly and spinning the wheel a few times to make sure that it worked. "And? Did you find  
  
anything?"  
  
Bart shook his head. "Other than a dozen destroyed gears, several dead bodies, and  
  
Crescens? Nope."  
  
"Wait a sec. Crescens? Did you find her?" Billy perked up almost instantly at the mention of  
  
Emeralda's gear, as it had been missing for almost as long as the mysterious nano-colony had been.  
  
"Nope. Wish I did though." Bart sat down on the porch steps, looking at the younger man.  
  
"You ever notice that she could light up a room when she smiled?"  
  
Billy nodded. "Yep. She didn't smile that much though. Asked a lot of questions though."  
  
Bart grinned, nodding. "You see when she arm-wrestled Rico?"  
  
"Yeah. Never thought that someone who looked like a nine-year old could actually launch  
  
the old brute. Then again, you should have seen your face when she grew up."  
  
Bart grinned sheepishly. "It wasn't my face I was concerned about at the time. Anyhow, I'd  
  
better see Jes and Prim too. They might not like it too much if I only ask you the million-gold  
  
question."  
  
Billy nodded, then looked up and smiled. "Well, considering that we're all here, you may as  
  
well speak said question."  
  
Bart looked behind him and smiled. "Hey Jessie, Prim. You're looking good."  
  
Jesiah nodded, sitting down next to Billy, and offering a glass full of something that smelled  
  
like mulled wine, and was probably stronger. Bart shook his head. "Sorry Jessie. Need to keep my  
  
brain in working order this time. We'll be heading north soon, and I'll need to keep my head clear so  
  
we can navigate the crosswinds near Merkavah's bits and pieces."  
  
Jessie shrugged in response, sipping at his own glass of warmed fruit juice. "Your loss kid.  
  
You'd need to be half-drunk to fly through those winds."  
  
"I was sober last time, thank you very much. Besides, I have a family-to-be to worry about."  
  
Billy looked at Bart, then smiled and shook Bart's hand. "Congratulations. When's she  
  
due?"  
  
"Seven months. You're the first ones of the old group to know. So, you wanna come with? If  
  
Em's not at Merkavah, we'll head off to Kislev, followed up by Lahan and Bledavik."  
  
Jesiah nodded, followed up by Billy and Prim. "Sounds like fun. Besides, I'd bet Rico would  
  
want out of the office before he kills someone."  
  
Billy stood up, smiling broadly. "Well, I'll go and tell Mickey that he's going to have to take  
  
care of the place for a week or so. That, and we'd better snag our guns." He then disappeared into  
  
the orphanage.  
  
Bart looked over at Jesiah and Prim, who were sitting side by side, and smiled. "I think  
  
you'd better give me that drink, Jessie. I won't want to see what Billy's going to do when he sees  
  
what happened to his old room on the ship."  
  
Jesiah laughed as he handed over the drink. 


	5. Kislev

Kislev, 3 Days Later   
  
The Empire of Kislev was nowhere near the level of prosperity it had enjoyed before the Exodus,  
  
even when it had been waging its long-running feud with Aveh over anything and everything. Of course,  
  
that war had ended after the Kaiser died of a heart attack. At the time, the Regent took over for a short  
  
while, but relinquished the throne when the Kaiser's son returned. Ricardo Banderas, the demi-human  
  
battling champion, and one of the eight heroes, absolutely hated his new position, though he stuck on  
  
to restore his home nation.  
  
Currently, he was bored out of his skull, listening to an old man talk about grain yields in the  
  
eastern farms, but that suddenly changed when two guards entered the small antechamber. Rico  
  
normally worked alone in the small room, taking time for the occasional meeting just so he could keep  
  
abreast of the situation in the city he had been raised in, but only under the most unusual or dire of  
  
circumstances would the guards enter the room.  
  
"Hold it Seignur. I need to do something." Rico stood up slowly, his seven-foot height easily  
  
towering over the guards, and he slowly clenched his hands into solid fists as he walked over to the only  
  
window in the room, which looked out to the south. Looking outwards at the night skies, Rico frowned,  
  
making his bestial visage turn from sour to outright surly.  
  
"Let me guess. An unidentified airborne object is heading into national airspace, and you want  
  
permission to activate the SAM sites to swat it out of the skies." The guard nodded looking nervous as  
  
Rico turned and glared at the man.  
  
"And, has it even occurred to you that the only thing left on the entire planet that is large enough  
  
to register a warning on the radar system is a Sky Cruiser? Return to your post, and let the ship through.  
  
I'll be down in ten minutes to greet them." Rico turned away from the window, his keen eyes having  
  
picked out the fast-moving dot that was steadily growing towards the city. The guard saluted, turned  
  
and left the room.  
  
Rico took a few seconds to relax, visibly exerting himself to relax his hands, which were still  
  
clenched into steel-hard fists. He looked over at the older minister whom he had been speaking with, and  
  
smiled slightly. "I guess I'll escape the rest of the report. It's not often that my old friends show up, and  
  
I'm wondering what the occasion is. Maybe Em's finally surfaced."  
  
The minister only nodded, also glad to end the meeting early, as Rico had a tendency to make  
  
his displeasure known by bending a chunk of metal taken from his first gear, then straightening the  
  
slightly curved piece of solid metal. Notwithstanding the fact that the piece of metal was as big around  
  
as one of the guard's wrists, it was still an impressive feat of strength. Rico waited for the minster to  
  
leave, then smiled tightly. "Em, you'd better be on that flying piece of scrap. I want a rematch in the  
  
arm-wrestling competition."  
  
Twenty minutes later, Rico was disappointed, but didn't let it show on his face. Instead, he swept  
  
Bart into a rib-creaking hug, causing the younger man to groan in pain before Rico let go. Rico then  
  
shook Billy's hand, the ex-etone grimacing under the crushing grip of Rico's still-formidable strength.  
  
"Yeesh Rico. When will you not crush my hand? I need the fingers working after all." Billy  
  
grinned as he flexed feeling back into his hand, then laughed at the emotionally crushed look that  
  
flashed across Rico's face. Rico chuckled as well, nodding at Jesiah, who responded with a sketched  
  
salute using three fingers, then paused when he saw Margie and Primera standing together just behind  
  
Bart and Billy.  
  
Rico actually took a few seconds to remember the last time he saw the two young women, then  
  
he smiled and bowed deeply, causing Bart and Billy to trade grins at the sudden change in behaviour  
  
from their big friend. "Well, if it isn't Marge and Prim. How have you two been doing?"  
  
Margie giggled, then hugged Rico, her tiny arms barely able to wrap around his thick neck. "I'm  
  
doing great, you old bear." Rico mock-growled at the term of endearment, then chuckled.  
  
"I'm fine. Bored out of my skull, and sick of baby-sitting ministers who should know better, but  
  
otherwise, I'm okay. So, What brought you guys to my not very humble abode?"  
  
Bart couldn't help but interject. "Well, other than seeing how your vocabulary's expanded, we'd  
  
like your help."  
  
Rico smiled at Bart, which would have sent many lesser men scurrying away from the sight.  
  
"Well, as you can see, it hasn't degenerated to your level. So, what do you need my help with? Em?"  
  
Bart nodded. "She just reappeared in the Zeobim ruins, then promptly disappeared again. We  
  
checked out the Merkava wreckage, but found nothing there. Our next stop is either Bledavik or Lahan,  
  
and we'd like you to come along."  
  
Rico thought for a few seconds, then nodded. "Yeah. Just let me tell the regent that he has his  
  
old job back and I'll be ready to go. See you in ten minutes." He then turned and walked off, a spring  
  
in his step.  
  
Bart looked over at his friends and silently placed one finger to the side of his head, twisting it  
  
slightly. Everyone else cracked up. 


	6. Dasil

Somewhere in Aveh Desert   
  
Sand everywhere, glistening a dull golden shade like well-burnished copper. Wind tore at the  
  
tops of the sculpted dunes, collapsing the crests of the frozen waves of earth through steady attrition and  
  
effort. Silently, in the trough of silty grit between two monstrous dunes, the traveller continued walking.  
  
Pausing it looked up at something in the distance, resolving into a massive jagged post of stone that  
  
towered above the rest of the desert by a good three hundred feet.  
  
The traveller paused at the base of the stone pillar, sensing something in the area. Faintly, the  
  
metallic tang of rusting metal passed through the area, the source of the scent being a half-buried flange  
  
of darkened steel. The traveller paused for a second, looking at the metal, then grabbed the piece and  
  
lifted upwards, revealing the metal to be a heavy knee pauldron and actuator base unit for a combat  
  
gear.  
  
The form examined the ruined piece of metal, seemingly remembering something, then dropped  
  
the pauldron onto the sand, turned and headed towards the southeast. Slowly, the sands began to reclaim  
  
its prize, while the traveller soon came across the walls of a tiny village. At most, only a hundred people  
  
lived within the enclosure of the stone walls of the village, and about half that were children. Everyone  
  
outside stopped and stared as the traveller entered the village, heading unerringly towards the Inn.  
  
One child, a young girl with dull ash-blonde hair, was playing in front of the traveller, when she  
  
tripped and fell. Though the traveller was nearly ten feet away, everyone watching swore that they saw  
  
a tanned arm flash outwards, prevented the girl from falling onto the hard sand, and disappeared as  
  
quickly as it had appeared. The little girl just stood there, staring at the traveller's face, of which only  
  
the mouth could be seen from the shadows the cloak's hood threw over the person.  
  
The traveller smiled, almost as if remembering something, then entered the Inn. Inside, several  
  
people sat at a table, talking quietly amongst themselves until the traveller entered the building. They  
  
instantly shut up, the traveller silently moving past the four men to stand in front of the innkeeper. A few  
  
whispered words, and a muffled passing of coins were all the noise in the suddenly silent room, followed  
  
by the clink and jangle of keys as the innkeeper passed over a room key for the traveller, pulling it off  
  
of a chain of twelve identical ones.  
  
The traveller only nodded, picking up the key before making the small metal object disappear  
  
into the folds of the cloak. Then the traveller spoke, its voice flat and harsh in the silence of the room.  
  
"Wake at dawn. I leave soon."  
  
The voice was harsh and scratchy, sounding as if somebody had tried to kill the traveller by  
  
strangling, but only damaged the vocal chords to a severe degree. The four men all glanced at each other  
  
as the traveller walked upstairs, barely making a sound on the notoriously creaky steps. The men then  
  
turned to the Innkeeper, who simply smiled and showed a hand filled with gold coins. The four men  
  
nodded, then resumed their muffled conversation.  
  
Upstairs, the traveller simply closed the door, sitting on the bed for a moment before laying  
  
down flat for the first time in a while. Pausing for a second, the traveller extended an arm to the door,  
  
locking it before doing something to the lock. A thin rasping noise filled the room, then quieted down  
  
as the traveller closed its eyes. Twenty minutes later, a faint scraping echoed through the room, followed  
  
by a muffled curse from the other side of the door. Two voices whispered harshly from just outside of  
  
the room, and seemed to come to a consensus.  
  
A few moments later, the door was smashed inwards, and the two burly men that had forcefully  
  
opened the door found themselves staring at a young woman, who was sitting on the bed and using her  
  
fingers to comb her hair. Almost before the men could speak, or even blink, the larger of the two was  
  
suddenly and forcefully hurled into the opposite door, five sharp spines piercing his clothes at armpit,  
  
knee and groin. He was not harmed, but the spines were close enough to be excessively dangerous. The  
  
second man, a bit smaller than the first, looked again at the woman, who looked calmly back at him.  
  
Her left hand was extended, and the five spines that had his friend pinned to the wall were the woman's  
  
fingers.  
  
Her right hand was still combing her hair away from her face, revealing the pools of liquid gold  
  
that were her eyes. The second man, wondering what to do, finally decided to attack the woman, even  
  
though he was a good seven feet away from her. In a flash, the fight ended, with the man ending heels  
  
over head as he was forcefully rolled into the wall next to his friend. The woman stood up, letting her  
  
left hand reform itself into a normal configuration as she walked towards the two still-conscious men.  
  
kneeling in front of each man, she smiled slightly, barely an upturned quirk, then slapped both men,  
  
hard.  
  
"That for trying to steal money. Leave me alone. Or die. Your choice." The men nodded, and  
  
watched the woman return to her room. Sitting on the bed, she continued to comb her hair, apparently  
  
remembering a time when someone else would do that, and smiling slightly as a result. The night passed  
  
slowly, and nobody who heard of the confrontation slept easily. 


	7. Lahan

Lahan   
  
"Elly? Do you know where I left my fine paintbrush?" Fei poked his head out of his 'studio'  
  
where he had been busy painting a picture of Timothy and Alice. In a way, it was Fei's attempt to  
  
apologise to his friends, and, with his good memory, he had a near-perfect image of his two friends.  
  
"Sorry, Fei. I have no clue where you left it. Still working on that painting?" Elly smiled at her  
  
husband, then gasped lightly as she felt a faint kick from inside her body. Fei smiled as he noticed Elly's  
  
squeak of surprise, then ducked back into the studio. A few moments later, he found the paintbrush, and  
  
chuckled to himself over where he had left it. Continuing with the painting, Fei finished the detail work  
  
on Alice's wedding dress, and stepped back to look at the painting.  
  
The painting was a relatively small work, but the detail in it was immense. Fei had spent the  
  
better part of three months on the painting, and he was finally satisfied with the work. The painting  
  
showed every person who had died in the attack on Lahan, with Timothy and Alice featured in the  
  
centre, clothed in their wedding attire. "Looks nice. Where are you going to put it?"  
  
Fei looked up at the voice, and smiled as he ruffled Dan's hair. "I don't know, Dan. Well,  
  
actually, I'm thinking that maybe you should have it. After all, they were more your family than mine."  
  
Fei frowned when he remembered the events that had started with Elly's escape in Weltall from a Kislev  
  
research facility, which had ended in the cataclysmic battle that had killed Deus and allowed the Zohar  
  
Modifier to return to its own plane of existence.  
  
Dan had grown up in the interim, filling out and stretching to Fei's own height. The two  
  
occasionally sparred, but more often they could be found tilling a field or helping rebuild a collapsed  
  
wall in the ongoing efforts to completely rebuild the small village. Just to the north by a few kloms,  
  
Doctor Citan Uzuki still lived with his wife, Yui, and his daughter, Midori, who was more talkative than  
  
ever, even though she only opened her mouth for the intake of food. Her mental speech was becoming   
  
more articulate with practice, though she usually 'spoke' in feelings or colours, corresponding to her  
  
mood.  
  
The only being Midori could not speak to was Emeralda, which was unsurprising, as the sentient  
  
nanomachine colony didn't have anything recognisable as a brain, much less internal organs. Fei paused  
  
as he thought of the mysterious being that had once thought of him as her 'father', and had known him  
  
as Kim. Oddly, though she had been created as a being of peace, Emeralda was arguably the most  
  
formidable combatant in the original group, having an intuitive grasp of elemental control over ether  
  
energy, as well as the ability to control and shift her body into just about any weapon she desired.  
  
Fei smiled ruefully as he remembered the first time Emeralda had summoned the Dark Beast.  
  
Considering that she had accidentally summoned the thing in the middle of a camp, it was not well  
  
received at the time. Billy had been especially peeved, as the Beast had tried to eat him, but they had  
  
forgiven Emeralda for the incident, especially as she managed to acquire control over the creature in an  
  
extremely short time.  
  
For the subsequent three months, the group members would almost invariably find their shoes  
  
or boots chewed into scrap, and even more often, said footwear had been immersed in a puddle of acidic  
  
goo. Bart had made the mistake of trying to touch the goo once, and nearly lost a finger as a result. Bart  
  
still had a black patch on his finger from where the goo had eaten right through his glove. It was only  
  
after Fei had given Em a very stern talking to that she had given up on the pranks, though once in a  
  
while he would find his shoes stuffed with papers.  
  
Once, just after the group had entered the ruins underneath the lighthouse for the first time, and  
  
Emeralda had literally 'grown up', Fei had found her standing on the conning tower of the Yggdrasil.   
  
She was probably more confused than everyone else, as she had virtually aged eight years in eight  
  
seconds, but Fei could bet that he was running a close second. He had leaned against the railing next to  
  
her, neither of them speaking a word for nearly three hours, until Emeralda turned and hugged Fei.  
  
Even now, five years later, he could remember her question. "Kim? What you do after?"  
  
"After? I don't know." Fei thought for a second, chewing on his lip as he looked at the slightly  
  
shorter female. "I think I'll go home, begin rebuilding it. It's been nearly a year, and I think I can  
  
convince some people to help me out. Hopefully, Elly'll be with me too."  
  
Emeralda paused, looking at Fei for a few seconds with her uniquely luminous eyes. "She be  
  
there. I help."  
  
Fei smiled and gently combed his fingers through Emeralda's hair. "Thank you. If you want,  
  
you could come with me after this is all over."  
  
Emeralda smiled, looking like a happy child as her eyes sparkled in the moonlight. "I... maybe.  
  
Want learn about world. First, we fight. Ready?"  
  
Fei nodded, deciphering Emeralda's broken speech with a little difficulty. She was learning the  
  
language, but her voice was unnaturally harsh from damage attained when she was under the 'care' of  
  
Bishop Stone and Krelian. "I'm ready. We'll end this, one way or another."  
  
Shortly after that, the Exodus had occurred, and Emeralda disappeared not long afterwards. Fei  
  
sighed, pulling himself out of memory lane as Elly called for him. "Well, time to see if the baby's  
  
kicking her where it's not supposed to. So, do you want the painting, Dan?"  
  
Dan nodded, and reached out to try and touch the face of his long-dead sister. Almost instantly,  
  
his knuckles were whacked, with the paintbrush, telling him that the painting wasn't dry yet. "You can  
  
come back in a day or two. I'll have framed it by then. Now, let's see what Elly's hollering about."  
  
The two men left the small studio, and, not seeing Elly inside the house, they walked outside.  
  
Elly was smiling as she looked up at Citan's house, still up on the mountain. "Well, we're going to have  
  
guests in a few hours."  
  
Fei nodded as he noticed the unmistakable form of the Yggdrasil III hovering just above Citan's  
  
home. Shading his eyes, Fei saw a thin line dangling down to the house, and chuckled. "They're going  
  
to be busy, at least for a little while. We'll see them down here in a few hours."  
  
Elly nodded, then looked at her husband. "Do you think they found her?"  
  
Fei shook his head. "I don't know. I hope she's reappeared, but I doubt we'll be lucky enough  
  
to see her for a long time. Still, I hope so."  
  
They stood there, looking at the darkened durasteel hull of the old ship, still hovering easily,  
  
then turned back into their home to get ready for the expected onslaught of friends. 


End file.
